


Oodles and Oodles

by harmony88



Series: Forever With You [5]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Married Couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 10:01:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27849026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harmony88/pseuds/harmony88
Summary: COMPLETEPart 5 of the Forever With You SeriesThe Doctor and Rose decide it's time to tell their secret to Jackie, but when do things ever go as plan? An emergency situation at a factory leads them on a mission the moment the arrive, and they just have to hope Pete doesn't tell her first."Tony doesn't like a lot of excitement and I heard that blue box of yours and I think it upset him.”“So it’s my fault?” the Doctor asked incredulously, sliding the coat off his shoulders and passing it to Jackie.“Oi, don’t get smart. You two arrived with no warning as per usual, I have a baby now, in case you forgot, I can’t just drop everything and tend to you!”
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: Forever With You [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030980
Comments: 16
Kudos: 147





	1. Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

> As much as I'm trying to make all these stories stand alone, it's becoming harder and harder so some things may not make full sense if you haven't read the other stories in this series.

They were both more than a little nervous. 

Rose was biting the corner of her thumb as the Doctor pulled the lever, setting the TARDIS off in its dematerialization sequence, and his eyes met hers. He was clenching his jaw and neither said anything, they just sat across from each other in silence as they felt the familiar twist and pull of time around their consciousness, arriving at their destination moments later. 

London. 2008. 

They had been married for a month and had put this off as long as they possibly could before the guilt began to keep Rose awake at night. 

Today they were going to tell Jackie. 

Rose wished more than anything that Mickey was still in this universe. She could test drive the news with him, make him pretend to act like her Mum so she could feel a little more prepared. 

At least Pete was with her, but she also had a baby, just a few months old, so Rose and the Doctor were quite afraid she would be sleep deprived, which may only add to the torrential rage they were about to face. 

“What if we just… don’t tell her?” the Doctor said as they still stood by the console, three minutes after their arrival. Rose groaned. 

“No, I want her to know, I just don’t want her to slap you,” she said. The Doctor chuckled. 

“I’m sure I’m long overdue for one,” he said, shrugging. Rose rolled her eyes. 

“We could tell her we’re just engaged?” Rose offered, but the Doctor frowned. 

“But then I have to take off the ring, and I…” he said, but shut up quickly. Rose’s eyes widened. 

“What?” she asked, smiling, lowering her hand down onto her lap. The Doctor made a scrunched up face, the ones he makes when he doesn’t want to say something, and Rose started to giggle. 

“It’s just...when I wear this ring the bond Aprhrodite gave us is just...there. I can sense you, always. I… weeeeeell,” he said, dragging the last word out for an exceptional amount of time. Rose smiled at him. 

“I love it, too, Doctor. You don’t have to be embarrassed,” she said. He sighed. 

“Who knew I was such a sap?” he murmured. 

“Not me. You strung me along for years,” she said, only partially teasing. She saw him tense for a moment, but she raised an eyebrow at him and he relaxed. Old habits. 

“Fair enough,” he told her, moving to kiss her. “So we just… tell her?”

“We just tell her,” Rose said. 

~~~

They weren’t able to tell her. They weren’t able to say much of anything. 

The moment they walked into the house Pete had bought a few months back, utter chaos ensued. 

Tony had vomited all over the Doctor’s suit coat when Jackie practically threw the infant into his arms seconds after the door opened. She gripped Rose so tightly the Doctor watched his wife gasp for breath, but then Jackie cupped a hand to the Doctor’s cheek and started shouting at Pete to answer the phone that was ringing in the background, hollering to him as she went to the kitchen to grab a cloth for the Doctor. 

“Wow,” he mouthed at Rose, holding her little brother like it was a potentially hazardous object. His arms were practically completely straight in front of him, and Rose smirked. 

“C’mon, comfort him!” she said. The Doctor groaned. 

“It’s my favorite suit, Rose,” he said. She rolled her eyes. 

“Fine, give him here,” she said, and she took Tony into her arms, cradling him as she smiled and began to bounce a little. The Doctor watched her, a surprising lump in his throat and she looked up at him. “What?” 

“Nothing,” he said quickly, sniffing and looking back around the room to try and find Jackie. 

“Just tell them you’ll call them back you wanker!” Jackie shrieked as she walked back into the entry hall. “And what are you two doing just standing there, come sit! And Doctor, sweetheart, give me that coat I’ll try to get that vomit out of it, poor little Tony doesn't like a lot of excitement and I heard that blue box of yours and I think it upset him.” 

“So it’s my fault?” the Doctor asked incredulously, sliding the coat off his shoulders and passing it to Jackie. 

“Oi, don’t get smart. You two arrived with no warning as per usual, I have a baby now, in case you forgot, I can’t just drop everything and tend to you!” Jackie spat, grabbing the coat with a huff and muttering more to herself as she walked back to the laundry room. 

Rose, still holding Tony, sighed and walked to the living room, settling into a very soft cushion on the couch and making silly faces at her little brother. 

The Doctor stood a few feet back, watching her. 

“Doctor!” he heard Pete call, and he turned around, his hands in his pockets, and smiled. 

“Pete!” he said, and the two men shook hands. He looked over at Rose and smiled, walking in to kiss the top of her head. 

“Hello, Rose,” he said happily. “Hope your brother isn’t giving you much trouble.” 

“Not at all, though I think I should check on Mum, can I hand him to you?” she asked. Pete nodded and scooped up his son, and Rose flashed the Doctor a look that said ‘wish me luck’ as she tried to find Jackie. 

The poor woman was sobbing over the Doctor’s suit. 

“Mum!” Rose cried, moving to hug her and Jackie held on tight, before wiping her eyes and blowing her nose into a hanky. 

“I’m sorry, Rose. Completely embarrassing. I just missed you!” she cried, fresh tears starting again. Rose hugged her, rubbing her back and trying to ease her hysterics. 

“I missed you too, Mum. It’s okay, shhhh…. It’s okay,” she kept saying. FInally, after a few more minutes, Jackie seemed to reign in the tears and she settled into focusing on the Doctor’s suit. 

“Bloody alien, he has technology for everything but he still wears wool. This isn’t coming out…” she muttered. Rose grabbed her hands. 

“It’s fine. I’ll buy him a new one if I have to, let it go,” Rose said with a smile, and Jackie sighed. 

“Fine, but if he starts to complain I’m telling him you stopped me,” she said, pointing her finger at her daughter. 

“Deal,” she said, and walked with her mother back to the living room. 

The Doctor was now sitting in an armchair by the fireplace, and Pete was feeding Tony a bottle. He looked at Jackie with worry, and the Doctor looked at Rose with a similar expression, which made her smirk inwardly. 

Men were the same when it came to worrying about their wives, no matter the species it seemed.  


Rose blinked and the Doctor saw gold in her eyes, and she kept herself turned away from Jackie for a moment. 

_Your suit is stained. Sorry._

_Unforgivable._

Her eyes returned to normal and she saw him smiling a little at her, and she smiled back. He had about six other sets of that same suit on the TARDIS, not that he would let Rose know just how much he fancied his pinstripes. 

“How are things?” Rose asked, sitting on the chair next to the Doctor. Jackie shrugged. 

“Same as ever, but Tony just started sleeping through the night so at least there’s that,” she hummed, kissing her son as he rested in Pete’s arms. 

“Work has been crazy,” Pete said. “We actually might need your help, Doctor. I just got a report that there’s been an outbreak of a toxin in a water supply at a factory near Leeds. We’ve been trying to isolate the source, but it doesn’t seem like it’s from this planet.” 

“What’s it doing? Are people sick?” the Doctor asked. 

“They are, though they’re working to evacuate the region that the water feeds, but we’re concerned it may spread if we don’t find a way to clear it soon,” Pete said. “That is who was on the phone, Torchwood, filling me in.” 

Pete was currently the Field Office manager for Torchwood’s London office. He was in charge of domestic events that took place in this timeline, and only within the United Kingdom. 

“Has anyone died?” Rose asked. 

“Two,” Pete said sadly, and the Doctor looked at Rose. Seems the only time they have a simple trip in when they’re in the Vortex. 

“Yeah, let’s take a look,” he said, and Jackie sighed. 

“Can’t stay in one place for more than half an hour, can you?” she said. “Go, go, stay safe all of you. I’ll stay here with Tony.” 

“We’ll do dinner when we get back, yeah?” she asked, and Jackie nodded.


	2. Spoodles

Pete wanted to take a car to Leeds. The Doctor _cackled._

“What?” he asked, completely taken aback. 

“Pete, I know we’ve only met a handful of times, but I have a time machine, remember? We can get there in ten minutes,” he said, pushing the door to the TARDIS open. Pete crossed his arms. 

“Just gives me the creeps, that box does,” he said. He knew he should trust the Doctor, and he _had_ ridden in the ship before, but he sighed as the Doctor and Rose both rolled their eyes at him. They walked inside without hesitation, and he followed with a grimace. 

The TARDIS appeared just outside the factory in question, and as soon as they exited the doors they saw an entire team of Torchwood agents and scientists scurrying around, all wearing white hazmat suits. The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand as they followed Pete to the medical team’s table, where three doctors were working to try and isolate the bacteria in a sample of the water they had collected earlier. 

“Murphy, we’re here,” Pete said, and the youngest of the three looked up. His mouth gaped open through the polycarbonate shield of his suit. 

“Are you the Doctor?” he asked. 

“I am,” he said. The other two doctors looked up as well, and a wave of relief washed over them. 

“Thank God you’re here. Go to Stevens by the blue tent over there, he has more hazmat suits. Until we know what’s causing this everyone needs to wear one,” Murphy said, and the Doctor nodded, walking with Rose and Pete over to the tent. 

They changed quickly, simply throwing the suits on over their clothes, and the Doctor was a little grateful he didn’t have his suit coat in case it got too hot. He helped Rose adjust her headpiece and looked around, but Pete was already talking to his team on the other side of the parking lot they were stationed in. 

“Remind me to disinfect this when we’re done,” he told her, holding up his sonic screwdriver. 

“We should just make you a new one,” she said, teasing. He looked at her horrified. 

“Rose Tyler, there are three things in this world I can admit I love. You, the TARDIS, and this bloody screwdriver. Irreplaceable, all of you are,” he said, scoffing at her as he placed the screwdriver in a fanny pack that was on the table. He wrapped it around his waist and threw in some test kits as well, and Rose just smiled at him. He handed her a pack as well, and she clipped in place. 

“I love you, too,” she told him, grinning. He couldn’t help but flash her an adoring look as they made their way over the entrance. 

It was taped off, but Rose and the Doctor’s reputation clearly preceded them, because the agents on site didn’t ask any questions when they saw them there, everyone just told them how happy they were to have them join, and they slipped through the front doors slowly, taking in everything they saw. 

“Where is the water stored?” the Doctor asked one of the agents, Miranda Trent, and she stepped in front of him to lead the way. 

“Follow me,” she said. 

They walked along the corridors of the factory, and even through her face shield, Rose could smell cheese. A dairy factory it seemed. They continued to walk down the long and winding, brilliantly dull hallways until they reached a set up steps. Miranda led them down to the basement, and stopped just shy of the door. 

“It’s through there. The building’s pipes are old, and the main tank will be to your right. I don’t have the clearance to go in, but I’m pretty sure you two can go anywhere you want here. I’ll be upstairs if you need us, but take this.” 

She handed them a walkie talkie, and Rose nodded, slipping it into her pack. 

“Can you tell my dad we’re down here? He seemed busy so we didn’t tell him we were going in,” she said. Miranda nodded. 

“Of course,” she said. 

She began to walk back up the stairs, and the Doctor scanned the door. 

“Why does it have to be a wooden door?” he whined, keeping his sonic at his side as he was forced to kick the door open. 

“We’ve gotta get you a setting for wood,” Rose said. 

“It’s embarrassing, truly,” the Doctor agreed, stepping forward into the darkness of the basement. Rose found a switch to her left and flicked it on, and a horrid blue light filled the room. It made Rose squint as her lens’ adjusted, and the Doctor scanned the air immediately. 

“The air is normal. Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide. A bit of mold, but that’s to be expected,” he murmured. Rose looked around. 

“It’s not the mold, is it?” she asked. He shook his head. 

“No, it’s not toxic. Watch your feet, there’s some water on the ground,” he said, stepping around a puddle and kneeling down. He scanned. 

“Anything?” Rose asked. The Doctor shook his head. 

“No, I see why they had to call Pete. This just reads as normal water, but there is an unidentifiable bacteria of sorts…” he said, trailing off at the end. He stood back up and carefully walked around the room, continuing to scan any bits of water he could find. Rose looked behind her at the main tank, and bit her lip. 

“Is there something, I dunno… Inside?” she asked. The Doctor turned and stared at the tank as well, and he frowned. 

“It’s possible,” he murmured. He stepped forward, careful not to touch the water on the ground, and tapped the water tank with his finger. He tapped again, a little harder than before. Silence. “We need to figure out a way to get inside without exposing ourselves.” 

“A camera?” Rose asked. The Doctor smiled at her widely. 

“Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth,” he said lovingly, and they carefully made their way back to the broken wooden door and up the stairs. 

They found Pete helping two agents unload more testing kits. 

“Do you have a microscopic camera?” the Doctor asked. Pete looked up. 

“What’d you find?” he asked. 

“Nothing yet,” the Doctor said. “Rose thinks there might be something living in the tank, and we want to see if we can find a way to take a look.” 

“Rose thought this?” Pete asked. The Doctor felt his wife stiffen beside him. 

“I saved your arse from the Cyberman, in case you forgot. Twice. I don’t need the attitude,” she said. Pete smirked. 

“You sound just like your mother. I was only teasing, I’m sorry,” he said. The Doctor looked down at his feet, choosing to stay out of it all together, “We may have to make something, but let’s take a look.” 

“Did I sound like Mum?” Rose asked the Doctor under her breath. He shook his head profusely. 

“Nooooo, no, of course not,” he said, his voice an octave higher than usual. She cocked her eyebrow at him. He only deflected like that when he was lying. 

“Mhm,” she said, and he shrugged at her. 

“What?!” he asked, but she just rolled her eyes and continued to follow Pete. 

There was a truck of equipment waiting by, and the Doctor and Rose walked up to its supervisor, Adam. 

“Let me check, hang tight,” he said, and slipped into the truck, emerging a few minutes later. “We can try something like this?” 

He held equipment out to the Doctor, a small biology microscope with a camera and a monitor to go with it. The Doctor found some cable, quickly attaching it all together, and Pete led them back down to the basement. 

He stayed on the other side of the door, afraid too many bodies would cause potential hazards, and Rose very carefully climbed on a table by the tank. “Doctor, the door is on the side.” 

“That’ll let out too much water…” he said. “Rose!” 

She looked at him, and his face was grinning madly. “What?” 

“London 2056, the lipstick.” 

“Be right back!” she said, lowering herself back down to the ground and hurrying off to the TARDIS. 

“Don’t slip!” the Doctor shouted, just as she was about to slide through a puddle. “ROSE!” 

She stopped an inch short and turned to him, flashing him an apologetic smile as she bounded up the stairs. 

“Drives me crazy,” he mumbled, but Pete heard. 

“I saw the rings,” he said. The Doctor turned to him, shocked, but Pete was smiling. “Don’t think Jackie did or we would have heard about it. She was a little preoccupied with Tony and everything.” 

“Yeah,” the Doctor said. There was a moment of silence, and Pete sat on the steps by the door. 

“How long?” he asked. The Doctor’s jaw clenched. He hated doing this without Rose. 

“A month,” he whispered, looking down at his feet. “Long story.” 

“Was it… were you both forced or -” 

“What?! No! Why would you ask that?” the Doctor said quickly, and Pete shrugged. 

“You just never struck me as the settling down sort of mate,” he said. The Doctor felt his hearts drop. 

“I wasn’t. Not before her,” he admitted. “She’s everything to me, Pete.” 

“I can see that,” he said. “We’ve all seen it, for a while. Just had to make sure it’s what you wanted.” 

“It is,” he said. Pete smiled. 

“You can tell us all the story later, yeah? Jackie may be shocked, but she loves you. Already considers you a son in law, truth be told. Remember that when she’s yelling at you both,” Pete said with a grin. The Doctor laughed. 

“Will do,” he said. “We were gonna tell you the moment we arrived.” 

“I’m sure,” Pete said. “Tony’s a handful. A wonderful handful, but a handful. Not surprised there wasn’t time. Especially with this.” 

“I’m a Time Lord. There’s always time,” the Doctor said. “But thank you.” 

Pete nodded at him. “You’ll always take care of her?” 

The Doctor smiled. “Oh Pete. She takes care of me.” 

Rose bounded down the steps then, causing Pete to stand and move aside, and she flashed the Doctor a smile. 

“Got it,” she said, holding up the lipstick the Doctor had turned into a laser. 

“Brilliant!” he said. Rose tossed it to him. “Don’t throw it!” he teased, mocking her words from the night he first showed it to her. She rolled her eyes at him as he hopped up on the table, and handed Rose the camera. “Right, so hold that until I tell you.” 

He made a small incision at the top of the tank with the lipstick, about three feet above the door that was on the side. “Alright,” he said, and Rose handed him the camera. “Turn the monitor on, love.” 

Her eyes widened at the slip of the endearment. He had never used a pet name before, and she made a quick glance toward Pete, who was pretending to be on his phone, acting like he didn’t hear. 

“Rose?” the Doctor said, and she turned her attention back to him. 

“Yeah, sorry,” she said, and clicked the monitor on. 

The Doctor dropped the camera through the top of the tank, and Rose kept her eyes on the monitor. 

“Anything?” he asked her. She shook her head. 

“No, just...water…” she looked at him, and he tapped the side of his head. 

Her eyes glowed gold. 

_This will be easier, gotta concentrate,_ the Doctor thought. 

_Okay._

They worked in silence for a moment. 

_Wait, Doctor, go back._

_Which way?_

_I don’t know, the way you just were._

He sighed, and tried to retrace the movements of the camera as best he could. Rose bit her lip. 

_Can you go more to the left?_

_How’s that?_

_No - the other left._

“Oh let me see it,” the Doctor said exasperated, and Rose flipped the monitor around so he could take a look too. “Oh, oh, oh!” 

He jiggled the camera bit, and then locked his eyes with Rose. 

“Brilliant, you are,” he said, and she looked down at the monitor. 

A small, round, vermin-like water bug thing was swimming though the tank, trying to run away from the camera. 

“What is it?” she asked. 

“Spoodles,” the Doctor said simply, and Rose started to laugh. Pete was looking over now, eager to learn more. 

“That’s not what they’re called,” Rose said laughing, and the Doctor just stared at her. 

“Of course it is!” he said. 

“Spoodles?” she repeated, waiting for him to hear how silly it sounded. 

“What?” the Doctor asked. 

“What are they?” Pete chimed in, getting both of them back on track. 

“They’re a bacteria, essentially,” the Doctor began. “Though, they don’t arrive on Earth for another, oh...four hundred years? This shouldn’t be here.” 

Rose looked back at the monitor, and couldn’t help but notice it looked like a mouse with gills. It was small, very small, probably no larger than a coin. 

“Is it alone?” Rose asked. The Doctor returned to the tank, and they spent the next hour carefully exploring every edge of the container, and sure enough, they found about fifty Spoodles. 

“It’s an entire colony,” the Doctor hummed, pulling the camera out of the water and disposing of it in a biohazard bag. He sealed it off and took a deep breath, looking at Pete and Rose. 

“How do we get rid of them?” Pete asked. The Doctor clenched his jaw. 

“I have to think,” he said, hopping down. 

They walked with the Doctor up to the front of the factory, and Rose could see the tension in his face as he thought. 

“Spoodles are toxic to certain species. Humans just happen to be one of them,” he said. “I can create an antidote for those who are affected, but I also need to clean the water supply.” 

“What’s more important?” Pete asked. 

“The supply. Keep giving the infected humans lots of liquids, preferably electrolytes, until Rose and I can figure out the water,” the Doctor said. 

“Shouldn’t Rose stay here?” Pete asked. “She’s human, you aren’t.” 

The Doctor stopped and looked at his wife, who had an unbelievably adorable angry face plastered to her perfect features. This was now the second time her dad/not dad had implied she was too weak to help the Doctor, and she did _not_ appreciate it. 

“I spent the last three years trying to get this one to stop making decisions for me,” she began, pointing to the Doctor, “I don’t need you doing it, too. I’m going. End of story.” 

“Rose -” Pete began. 

“End of story!” she shouted. The Doctor’s eyes locked with Pete’s, and neither said anything as Rose walked toward the TARDIS, the Doctor at her heels. 

“Why are we going this way?” he asked. She turned and sighed. 

“Just had to get away from him. It’s just weird around him, you know? Like, I’m so happy for Mum, I am, but...he doesn’t look at me like he sees _me_. Never has. I’m just his wife’s daughter. I know I’ve only known him for a little over a year but...it just…” she trailed off. It took everything inside of the Doctor not to hug her while they wore their hazmat suits. He just nodded. 

“It’ll get better, I promise,” he said. “He knows we’re married, by the way. He saw the rings.” 

“Oh god, did he tell Mum?” Rose asked. The Doctor shook his head. “Good. I want us to be the ones to tell her.” 

“Me too,” he said. “Now come on, we’ve got a problem to solve. Better with two, allons-y!”


	3. Ebb and Flow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a turn I didn't expect until I was writing it, so there's one more after all. I'm having lots of fun creating this universe with these two. Thank you for reading!

The Doctor was pacing the TARDIS. Rose’s tongue was resting against the corner of her mouth, lost in thought, but the Doctor’s groan snapped her back. 

“What is it?” she asked. He sighed. 

“The only thing I can think of is boiling the water. It’s the most sure-fire way to make sure water is detoxified. It’ll remove any traces of viruses, organisms, parasites, and even bacteria. Including the Spoodles,” he said. Rose’s brow furrowed. 

“But?” she asked. 

“It’ll kill them,” he said. “They’re not like earth bacteria. They come from the Spoondenele Asteroid, which crashes to Earth in 2440, that’s how I know about them, but they are more... alive than most bacteria. They’ll know what’s happening.” 

Rose chewed on her lip. She knew how much life or death decisions still weighed on him, especially when the creatures aren’t deserving. 

“It sounds like they’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Rose said. 

The Doctor perked up immediately. 

“Oh, Rose Tyler, you are a genius,” he said, his face breaking into a smile. 

He ran out the TARDIS door, and she chased after him, trying to keep up with his long and quick legs. He could easily outrun her when he wasn’t thinking about slowing down for her sake. She let Bad Wolf do the talking. 

_Doctor, where are you going?_

She saw him stop a few feet ahead of her, and waited for her to catch up. 

“Sorry,” he said. “Come on!” 

They ran side by side this time, back down to the basement, still careful to avoid any water. He scanned a sample that was on the floor. 

“Eight hours,” he said. “The bacteria is only eight hours old!” 

“Okay,” Rose said, and he grinned at her. It clicked. “Oh!” 

“If we can figure out _how_ they got here, we can go back and lead them somewhere else!” the Doctor shouted. 

“Okay!” Rose said, grinning. 

He smiled at her, and they bounded back up the stairs, straight for the TARDIS. 

Rose stopped. 

“Wait, Doctor!” she said. He turned around and looked at her. “Timelines. We have to tell Pete what we’re doing, so us going back is part of his timeline, too. Part of everyone's who is here. Otherwise we’ll create a paradox when we cross our own line.” 

He gawked at her. 

How could he forget that? 

“Right. Good, yeah,” he said, and ran after her. 

She wasn’t Time Lady, but she sure as hell acted like it. 

They found him quickly, and filled him in on their plan. He didn't have time to ask questions or protest before Rose was running with the Doctor back to the TARDIS. 

They went back nine hours, parking the TARDIS on the other end of the parking lot, and walked outside. The Doctor kept his eye peeled on the sky, and Rose looked around the ground, both looking for any sign of how the Spoodles arrived here. 

A pink flash coursed through the morning sunrise. 

“That’s it,” the Doctor said, and Rose turned to see what he was looking at. “Arrived with the sun. Sort of sweet, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah,” she said, nudging him with her shoulder. “Shall we?” 

“Indeed,” he said, stripping out of the hazmat suit. Rose did the same, and they brought them inside with them, tossing them on the railing as they went back another hour, this time in the Vortex, watching the screen. 

The Doctor was twisting gears and activating the gravity pull outside the ship, his goal to take the piece of the asteroid that must have broken off somehow with him and reattach it, or chuck it somewhere else in the solar system. He hadn’t figured that part out yet. 

Rose had no idea how to help, so she was watching him as she twisted her hoop earring from side to side. God, he was gorgeous. His hair was a little more matted than usual from the hazmat suit, but he had thrown his tie to the ground and loosened his top buttons of his Oxford to filter some air back to his body as he worked, and Rose found her mind wandering to all sorts of different scenarios. Ones where she pushed him against the console and sucked and nipped a rather splendid part of his humanoid anatomy. One where she tore every piece of clothing he was wearing off and mounted him on the pilot seat…. 

“You’re undressing me with your eyes,” the Doctor said seductively, snapping Rose back to reality. Her hand was still in her earring and her face had tilted to the side. Evidently her eyes had been wandering. 

“So?” she asked, her tongue doing its usual thing. He smirked at her, still adjusting settings on the console. 

“So, it’s rather distracting, and I have work to do,” he purred. Rose had to shift in her seat to account for the rush of heat she now felt in her middle. 

“Mmm,” was all she was able to say, and the Doctor clicked a knob with more pressure than he needed to and moved to her instantly, his mouth hot on hers as she wrapped her arms around his neck. 

“You’re voracious, you know that?” he said desperately, and she kissed him hard. 

“Don’t even know what that means,” she moaned. 

“Eagerness, excessive desire, want, need, craving -” the Doctor began, but she bit his lip to stop his words. 

“Don’t care,” she teased, and her tongue apologized for her bite. 

“We really don’t have time,” the Doctor warned, even as he smiled against her kiss. She pulled away, flushed and pink in the face, and she took a deep breath. 

“Then work faster,” she said with a saucy grin, and he groaned, kissing her once more before he reluctantly returned to the console. She smoothed her clothes in her seat, avoiding him entirely until she felt her desire reach tolerable levels. 

He had to actively stop his mind from thinking about Rose and he tried to track the asteroid, but he found it a little easier the moment the TARDIS located it. 

“Rose, can you hold down that lever?” he asked, pointing across from him. She did, and suddenly their passion transformed into focus, and the Doctor watched on the monitor as the asteroid hit a meteorite and a very small piece, nearly infinitesimal, ricocheted away from its larger home and straight for Earth. 

The Doctor latched on to it, and the TARDIS began to shake from its unexpected companion. 

“HOLD ON!” the Doctor shouted as he tried to maneuver his way back to standing. It was nearly impossible to grip anything from the intense tremors. Rose was straining, and small whines and cries of pain and determination were leaving her throat that made the Doctor’s breath catch. 

Suddenly she was in a blue jumper, hands slipping from a lever. 

He was frozen, and Rose could see that his mind had wandered as she struggled. 

The TARDIS was trying her absolute hardest to secure the piece of asteroid to her grip so the Doctor could send it away, but the longer Rose gasped and the longer the Doctor watched her, the harder it was for their beloved blue box. 

Rose’s eyes flashed gold. 

_Stop it. I love you._

He felt his mind jerk back to where they were now, and he quickly pressed three buttons, finalizing the gravity pull and allowing the TARDIS to spin normally with the asteroid piece below her. 

The Doctor was white as a ghost as he scanned the area outside, and found an abyss of space with no interruptions to their right. Silently, and without looking at Rose, he adjusted the gravity pull trajectory and tugged on his lever. 

“You can let go,” he said. His voice was heavy, and Rose was trying to catch her breath as she did, the gold bars moving back to their normal home. The asteroid piece was flying in space, safely away from the Earth and from other potential hazards. 

“Doctor,” Rose whispered. 

He walked away without a glance. 

He was furious with himself, and he slammed the door to their bedroom shut with a loud thunk. Rose stood in the console, and tried to fight back tears. 

He sunk to the floor against the door and ran his fingers through his hair. He wanted to scream, but he didn’t. He just sat there and tried to ignore the knot in his stomach. 

He had been doing _so very_ well. 

It had been weeks since the horror of losing Rose possessed him quite like that. 

He knew, he _knew_ that the timeline of forever with her was possible. Rose could see it, he could sort of see it, but she was helping him believe it. As it stood now, however, he would lose her in the blink of an eye. He felt all the hope and confidence he had gained over the last month sizzle to a mere ember of its once fiery presence in his mind, and he banged his head against the door. 

His heart and soul bond with Rose was not quite as strong as a mind bond from Gallifrey would be, but his ring began to pulse to her heart rate, and it was strong enough for him to sense how upset she was in this moment. 

He closed his eyes, swallowing hard, and instinctively knew she was sitting on the other side of the door. 

He stood and opened it, and there she was. Her hand was holding her arm across her chest and she was biting the inside of her lower lip, her eyes searching his. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he whispered. She blinked. 

“I think we should,” she said. 

“We have to go back, tell Pete it’s taken care of and confirm they’re gone, make an antidote for those who were exposed before we undid all of this. Since it’s part of their time it won’t undo their exposure...we've got to tell your family about us. Lots to do,” he said, and tried to walk past her, but she placed her hands on his chest, directly over his hearts, and he rocked back, his eyes closed. 

“Last time I checked we have a time machine. We can talk,” she said. Her voice was firm, but kind, and she waited patiently as the Doctor just stood there, unable to move or speak. 

“I have to clean my sonic screwdriver,” he said eventually, and forced his way past Rose, pushing her into the wall a little as he went to med bay and sanitized the device. 

Rose tried to steady her breathing and focus on their bond. She could sense the increase in his heart rate as well, both of them beating like they were trying to break free, and his soul felt tired. 

The old Rose would let him wallow, but she wasn’t her. Not anymore. She was his wife. 

And she knew he knew that. Because the old Doctor would never have opened that door, especially when he knew she was standing there. Not when he was this upset. 

Some progress had been made, she just had to remind him. 

She found him in the med bay, crumbled on the ground with his face in his hands. 

“You know I don’t blame you, right?” she asked. His hands dropped from his face and he looked at her. 

“What?” he asked. 

“We’ve never really...talked about it. What happened, on Canary Wharf. That’s where your mind went, right? I was holding a lever and….” she said. The look on the Doctor’s face told her what she needed to know, and she took a step forward as she continued. “Right, well. We were apart for four months, and it was awful. It was. Truly, the darkest and worst four months of my life, and when you found me we were just so happy to be together again and we jumped right into adventure after adventure and...we never talked about it. Even on Atlantis. We talked about a lot of things, but never about the actual day that we lost each other. And I just… I need you to know I never _once_ blamed you for what happened.” 

The Doctor stared. Her words nestled themselves between his hearts, desperate for him to let them in, and he closed his eyes. 

“Why not?” he asked. 

“Because you did everything you could to protect me,” she said, and she sat down across from him. Her fingers began to play with the hem of her jeans, and she tried to figure out how to say the next thought. 

“You keep beating yourself up over something you had no control over. You keep thinking that what happened should never have happened -” 

“Rose, it _shouldn’t_ have -” he said, but she shook her head. 

“Back then, it makes perfect sense that you thought that, even though I’m telling you, I didn't blame you. But now? I learned about my Wolf Instincts and I’ve seen it. I’ve seen just how calculated everything about our life together has been. ‘The universe finds a way to help true love’, Aphrodite said. The universe brought us together, and it brought us back. It separated us for a reason, too, and maybe we just have to wait and see what that reason was. Maybe it was this. The fact that it allowed us to be together. Now. That’s what matters,” she said. 

Her hand laced in his and he felt tears he didn’t expect spill on to his cheeks. 

“I love you,” he told her. She smiled. 

“And I love you, focus on that with me, okay?” she said. 

He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, planting gentle kisses on her temple and she snuggled into his side. 

His impossible human. 

The Doctor heard every word she said, and thought about everything they went through in the last year. He thought about the redhead from Chiswick they helped all those months ago, on the day he got Rose back, and how intoxicated with happiness they were that Donna assumed they were together the entire time, going so far as to play a special song for them at her wedding reception.

They should check on her. 

He thought about London in 2056 and its stolen kisses. The entirety of their week in Atlantis and all the many discoveries and progress they had made. Their marriage. 

Their love. 

The love he could finally be honest about, despite his own demons. 

He shifted so his arms were wrapped around her fully, and he breathed in her scent, savoring the feel of her heartbeat against his. 

“Thank you,” he whispered. Rose smiled. 

“We’ll always be okay, you and me,” she said. And for once, he chose to believe it.


	4. Mama Tyler

They sat on the floor, huddled together for another few minutes, until the pull of the universe was tugging at the Doctor’s conscience too much, and he moved away from the embrace with a kiss. They made their way to the console room, the Doctor’s mind still trying to put aside his insecurities, and took the TARDIS back to the factory. 

Pete and his team were waiting for them, though it had only been about five minutes in their timeline when the Doctor and Rose returned. She had to give him credit for his ability to hide his emotions, no one at that site would have any idea that he cried on the floor ten minutes prior. 

They ran to the basement, throwing their hazmat suits back on just in case, but when the Doctor scanned the water, it was clean. They spent an hour or so testing the tank with the camera, but it too came back with no trace of Spoodles. 

The Doctor pulled Rose into a hug when they knew their plan worked, and he quickly went to check the few humans who were infected. 

Their symptoms weren’t nearly as terrible as he expected, and Rose helped Pete and the team clean up the site as the Doctor took samples of their blood, returning to the TARDIS med bay to counteract the toxin. 

With his advanced skills and technologies, he had a cure in four hours. 

Rose was exhausted, but she helped the Doctor administer the shots to those who needed it, and by the time everything looked as though no one had set foot on the property, it was the witching hours.

The Doctor and Rose barely spoke as they took Pete home, and when he asked them if everything was okay, they assured him they were just tired. 

“I bet Jackie will make up the guest room for you. Though she doesn’t know about your...um...relationship, so she’ll probably make the Doctor sleep on the couch,” he told them. Rose shook her head. 

“It’s okay. We’ll be by in the morning,” she said. Pete hovered by the door, wanting to say something else, but he ultimately slipped out wordlessly, and Rose turned to the Doctor. 

“Come here,” he said, and pulled her into a hug. He had a few hours to process his thoughts, and he knew Rose was right. He had to focus on here and now. “I’m sorry.” 

“No need, I get it,” she whispered. They held each other for a moment, until the day began to catch up with Rose and she sighed against his shoulder. “I’m so sleepy.” 

“Bedtime, then,” he said, and kissed her. 

~~~

Hours later, the Doctor was trying to surprise Rose with breakfast in bed when there was a very loud knock on the TARDIS door. 

He set a carafe of orange juice on the counter and walked to the door, but the knocking kept getting louder and faster, and he knew who it was before the door opened. 

“Hello Jackie,” he said with a smile, leaning against the doorframe. 

She grabbed his left hand. 

“So it’s true?” she said. The Doctor sighed. 

“Rose is asleep. You want to do this now while she’s grumpy because we made her wake up or in an hour after she’s eaten something?” he asked. Jackie, as hard as she was trying not to scream, smirked when he said this. He knew her daughter, and she shook her head. 

“You couldn’t have found _two minutes_ to say ‘Oh, by the way, we got married!’ before you ran off with Pete?!” she hissed. The Doctor sighed and moved to close the door. 

“Talk soon, Jackie!” he said and she glared at him. 

“Don’t you dare shut this door, Doctor!” she shrieked. He merely waved to her and locked the door, rubbing his hand over his face. 

“Damn it, Pete,” he grumbled, and moved back to the kitchen. 

He brought Rose her breakfast anyway, complete with toast and jam, some eggs, and orange juice, but he was surprised to see her awake and wrapped in a towel when he pushed the bedroom door open. 

“Morning,” he said, setting the tray down on the bed. “You’re up early.” 

“It’s a big day, nerves got the better of me,” she said. The Doctor’s jaw was clenched and she felt her stomach flip over. “What happened?” 

“Jackie stopped by,” he mumbled. “Seems Pete let the cat out of the bag.” 

“WHAT?!” she shouted, dropping the towel to the ground and standing stark naked in front of him. Normally, that sight would cause him to throw her back down on the bed, but it didn’t feel quite appropriate in this situation. He tugged at his ear. 

“Brought you breakfast,” he said, but Rose was shouting about how unbelievable Pete was, pacing the room and arousing the Doctor more than he cared to admit, and he eventually moved to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. 

“Fingers on lips,” he whispered, the memory of their trip to the Olympics a few years back coming to his mind. His finger came to rest on her very kissable mouth, and she sighed at his touch. “Way I see it, at least the way I saw it when I woke up this morning, after my….after yesterday, is that I would much rather have the privilege of Jackie Tyler yelling at me as my new mother in law than not. Doesn’t matter who told her.” 

Rose whimpered at his words and gave him an endearing look, and she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing just a little. He tried to ignore the fact that she was very much naked, but he couldn’t stop himself from hugging her back, and kissing her shoulder. 

She kissed him, and he tried to keep it from getting too carried away, knowing there was a very angry Jackie Tyler still possibly standing outside the TARDIS door, and Rose seemed to reluctantly agree, because she pulled back after just a few moments, and sighed. 

“Thank you for breakfast,” she said and turned to her side of the wardrobe, quickly throwing on a pair of underwear and a bra. 

She got an idea. 

She grinned playfully at the Doctor, closing the closet door while she changed. 

“What are you doing?” he asked, stealing a sip of her orange juice. 

The door opened a few minutes later, and the Doctor felt his entire world stop. The desire he felt for her when she was naked was nothing compared to the desire he felt seeing her now. Such a simple outfit choice, but one she knew meant more to him than he could ever convey. 

She was the first face this face saw, wearing these same black jeans, white tank, and red Punkyfish zip hoodie. 

“Remember this?” she asked, her lips curled in a coy smile. 

He grabbed her, kissing her, forgetting about Jackie Tyler entirely. 

It was a reminder of just how far they’d come. That day, he kissed her for the very first time, when he thought he extracted all of the Vortex from her mind that turned out to be so integral to their story, and he was born into this body. This body that was made for her. And all he had wanted to do the moment he was born was kiss her again. 

And now he could. 

It was a hungry kiss, and Rose was pushed against the doorframe, hands in his hair, remembering how she didn’t know if she could trust him when she first saw him. How she wondered if he was the same man. 

And here they are now. 

How far they’d come. 

There was an incessant knock at the door, and it forced them to break apart. The Doctor groaned, and Rose was biting her lip, licking his taste off of them. 

“I love you. So, so much,” he whispered, and Rose snuck one more kiss in. 

“I love you so, so much, too,” she said. 

The knocking was faster. 

“She’s gonna break her fingers if we don’t answer soon,” Rose muttered and the Doctor laughed. 

“Allons-y, Rose Tyler,” he said, holding her hand. 

They opened the door and Jackie was standing there, hands on her hips, staring at them. 

“It’s been an hour,” she said sternly. Rose fought the urge to roll her eyes and the Doctor pressed his lips together. 

“You wanna talk here or-” he said. 

“Stop treating this like it’s crazy of me to be here! You didn’t tell me!” Jackie cried. Rose sighed. 

“Mum, we were here for ten minutes before Pete -“ 

“You told him!” Jackie shouted, and Rose’s brow furrowed. 

“No we didn’t,” she said. 

“He saw the rings, Jackie. I wasn’t going to lie to him,” the Doctor told her. “I’m sorry.” 

“Oooooh you’re _sorry_ are you?! That makes me feel loads better!” Jackie said. Rose pushed forward to stand in front of the Doctor. 

“Mum, stop it,” she said. “Look, can we go inside? We’ll tell you the story and then maybe you’ll see that it wasn’t something we wanted to keep from you.” 

“Pete said it’s been a month. Couldn’t pay me a visit before now?” She barked. Rose turned to glare at the Doctor, her eyes gold. 

_You had to tell him that?_

_He asked!_

_Doctor! I was going to tell her she was our first stop!_

_Tell her she was!_

_Too late for that now!_

The Doctor pouted. 

_Please don’t withhold touching me again._

She rolled her eyes at him, letting her hazel galaxies appear again as she turned to her mother. 

“Let’s just go inside, yeah?” Rose asked. Jackie huffed and pushed through them into the TARDIS, which caused the Doctor to drop his mouth open in shock.

“I don’t want to risk upsetting Tony,” she warned, and Rose sat on her chair, looking at Jackie. 

She told her the revised version of their marriage story that she has crafted in her head. She left certain parts out she was afraid would cause more anger and questions, like how she accessed her Instincts and can turn Bad Wolf on and off, and opted instead for saying it was an wonderful journey that finally allowed them to admit their feelings, and Aphrodite’s abilities were everything they had been waiting for, and it was all very last minute and they had a special ceremony from that planet. 

As she told the story, Jackie began to ease. 

“Alien ceremony, then?” she asked. Rose nodded. “Not one from Mars, Doctor?” 

“Jackie, for the last time, I’m not Martian,” he said with a sigh. 

Jackie looked back at Rose and cupped a hand to her check. 

“I know this daft alien loves you, sweetheart. And I know you love him, too. And I know he will do everything he can to keep you safe, he’s already shown me that more times than I can count. And I know you’ll keep him safe. You two are barking mad, but you need each other. I’m happy for you, I just wanted you to tell me, sweetheart,” she said. 

Her words shocked the couple, who had been braced for hours of screams. 

It could be that she had some time to process, or it could be the fact that Jackie always expected that one day her daughter would return home married to the Doctor. It could also be that she was secretly quite happy about it. 

“Mum,” Rose began, tears welling in her eyes. She hugged her, and Jackie’s eyes locked with the Doctor’s, who was standing with his hands in pockets behind Rose. 

“Oh get in here you stupid idiot!” she called, and wrapped the Doctor in a hug as well. 

Rose sniffed, wiping tears away as the hug ended, and the Doctor rubbed circles in her hand as he held on tight. Jackie smiled. 

“I’m going to let you two decide if you want to do a ceremony here, but if you do, I would love to be a part of the planning,” Jackie said. Rose smiled. 

“We’ll let you know,” she said, and the Doctor squeezed her hand. 

“Well, come on then, we’ve all had a right cry, can you stay for the day? We can catch up and play with Tony?” Jackie asked. Before Rose had a chance to look at the Doctor and gauge how he was feeling, he replied with words that always made Rose’s heart soar. 

“Oh, I’d love it.”


End file.
